HUFFLEPUFF
by Grimm Sister
Summary: The duffers. The left-overs. The house with so little glory. Hard-workers. Just. Loyal. The house whose common room we never enter in the books. The characters who seldom mean much, who crack under pressure. What does it mean to be in Hufflepuff?
1. H elga's good intentions

_H elga's good intentions_

She was the only one who would teach them, initially: "the rest" as the Sorting Hat would so tactfully put it a thousand years later. She would seek out all of the children born of Muggles who possessed magical ability, and she would bring them to her protected castle to train them. Yes, hers. It made the castle hers.

The others refused. It was not Salazar Slytherin who stood in opposition to the other three Founders. Helga Hufflepuff defied them all, and friendship and fear kept them from crossing her.

She could see, as the years passed, that they were all beginning to realize. She was the most powerful Founder, the most influential among her House, and the one with the most influence over the young minds she had found among the "Muggle rabble." It was not only Salazar who had called them that.

She could mold her students whilst Salazar's heirs apparent came to him pre-formed from their ancient families' cookie cutters.

Her students' minds were wide open and untainted by the silly superstitions and ignorant beliefs Rowena had to beat out of her pupils one by one.

Helga's merry band was more mischievous, united, and bold than Godric's band of the brave. Helga's students took after her: stubborn and defiant and brave for each other.

Muggle stock was hardy.

All three came to see that. One fought the strength of her House directly. The other two plotted to steal it for their own.

When Salazar Slytherin stood against the might of the other three Founders, he could not command them to accept his way as Helga Hufflepuff had done.

But she watched him go with a heavy heart, knowing that the heart of her House, that made her the heart of the school, would be dispersed in his absence.

Even then, however, she knew it was lost on no one that she was the only Founder to teach "all she knew," as the Sorting Hat so mildly put it a thousand years later.


	2. U ndefined

_U ndefined _

It was their strength once. Even when the other two Founders relented on the Muggleborn, their houses were clubs of similarities.

All the sharp-tongued, sharp-minded, sharp-eyed students of Ravenclaw scratched their nails on each other with no outside stimulation – no scratching post that could not claw back. They were a nest of the same bird.

All loud-speaking, loud-bragging, loud-dancing, actions speak louder than words wizards and witches made a merry crew of adventurers and dared each other near to extinction once. They were a rowdy pack of lions roaring for their own amusement and ignored by much of the rest of the school.

All the fine-mannered, fine-spoken, finely-dressed with fine futures students greeted each other and schemed for supremacy in Slytherin, glorying in mutual pride and honor and understanding. They were a dungeon full of snakes, slithering into a hierarchy and looking down on all the rest of the school.

But Hufflepuff was different. You might meet anyone there. They had their jokers who entertained the rest, and they had serious students who would keep the slackers in check. There were pranksters and prefects and sportsmen who talked to each other and shared their interests freely. They were too diverse a group to form a coherent hierarchy and found it hard to believe in later years that it was so very important to create or climb one. It's so hard to believe any nastiness is quite so important in a place where it is always a warm summer afternoon with flowers rustling in the soft breeze.

The Hufflepuffs had started most of the societies at Hogwarts, because they were the different students drawn together and taught to unite with those quite unlike them. They were different, and it made them stronger.

But time wore on, and Godric and Rowena agreed to admit Muggleborns, and then the Sorting Hat took the Founder's place. The Sorting Hat stopped knowing how to choose a Hufflepuff. At first the odd ones, the different ones, went there, but that was no good. Too often odd meant daring or clever.

As time wore on, Hufflepuff came to be seen not as the eclectic, fascinating house that was always different with each new year and insanely loyal to their crazy family, but as the undefined house. The one no one could describe, until the Sorting Hat seized upon the one word that was always attached to them: loyal.

It didn't say nearly enough.


	3. F ire of blue

_F ire of blue_

Every House had a reason that its candidate would be chosen. Gryffindors believed that a trial of bravery and honor was their province. Slytherins felt their stock was the finest and thus the best choice. Ravenclaws knew they were the brilliant ones who would shine in competitive glory.

Hufflepuffs hoped in Cedric Diggory. They measured him against Johnson and Warrington and Selwyn – a Quidditch player who didn't know what she was getting herself into, a Slytherin brute unlikely to handle the intellectual, on-your-feet thinking aspects of the Tournament, and a witch with singular skill at hatching plots and strategies but a great deal of trouble with execution. Hufflepuffs tended to take the personal approach.

Cedric Diggory: the only Seeker to beat Harry Potter, who had captured the Snitch in the midst of a Dementor attack only Dumbledore could have fended off, top of the year, who defended a group of first years from an attack by Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts single-handedly, the prefect who demanded that Hufflepuff House be accorded its share of honor. The candidate every house would be able to cheer for.

A fighter who could keep his eye on the prize, willing to risk limb for loyalty and the honor of his school.

But Hufflepuff's wisdom was so rarely followed in the world, so they were taken for Duffers. Their glory was always so obvious that no one bothered to expect great things from them. Underdogs were usurping their rightful places. Cynicism was wearing away their core.

Just as Harry Potter's collapse stole the honor of Cedric Diggory keeping his head and focus in the midst of a Dementor attack, the Goblet of Fire spewed forth the ultimate Underdog, the ultimate International Incident, the ultimate Scene-Stealing Sideshow to rob the Hufflepuff of his rightful glory.

Even his death is not the front-page story. He is the spare, unable to steal the thunder of the Slytherin's rising or interfere with the Gryffindor's destiny.


	4. F irst to break

F_ irst to break_

Every year, a Hufflepuff is the first to break. In the crucible of pressure of O.W.L.s, as the tests roll excruciatingly closer day by day, there is always someone who breaks first, and it is always a Hufflepuff.

These are the words Hannah Abbott thinks, over and over again. Stebbins last year. Summerby the year before. Who before that? Summers? Good night, maybe it was more of an "S" thing. But Hannah felt, deep in her bones, that it was a Hufflepuff thing. Didn't everyone know that they were the duffers? The weak ones? The ones who couldn't handle the pressure? Even Diggory -

So even if Hermione Granger was the one putting herself under the most pressure in the most subjects; even if Terry Boot was the most competitive academic maniac in the school; even if Millicent Bulstrode was the most likely to be asked to leave unless she could manage miracle scores...Hannah Abbot knew that she would be the first to collapse, to fold under the pressure.

Ernie MacMillan told her that was rubbish, and she hoped it was, but the whispers still came in the night, naggling doubts crept in between spells and their corresponding wrist movements. It will be you this year. Between the lines in every list of potions ingredient were written the words: you must stand strong, prove them wrong, for the honor of your house. Written on every star in her telescope: Hufflepuffs are always the first to break.

Stebbins, Summerby, and now Abbott.


	5. L iving out loud

_L iving out loud_

Hufflepuff was really the only house that could have withstood her. Ravenclaws wouldn't have liked her approach to life – diving into the mess without a second thought with all of her heart. Slytherins wouldn't have liked the way she danced gleefully between the worlds, finding oddity and fun in the Muggle as well as the ridiculous in the magical. Gryffindor would have disdained her delight in trifles and her unrelenting practicality about dangerous matters.

She was the mad Hufflepuff who entertained her housemates at the dinner table by changing her nose and hair and ears just for the fun of it. She was cheeky in lessons, not above imitating others for first-rate impressions and spying purposes, certainly not above causing trouble, and unerringly loyal to those wise enough to embrace her strangeness.

Hufflepuffs had acquired the reputation for a quiet, seldom mentioned lot who were genial and not particularly interesting.

Nymphadora Tonks blew all of these stereotypes away.

She was a throwback to the old days of Hufflepuff, when they had all been odd ducks who challenged tradition and stood by each other in the face of the status quo's disapproval. It surprised many when she became the Hufflepuff held forth as an example of all that they were. People had rather forgotten how interesting and exciting differences can be, until Nymphadora Tonks embodied this principle literally and broke out onto the world in a crash of rock music.


	6. E xpulsion

_E xpulsion_

Rubeus Hagrid would have drawn little comfort from the knowledge that a member of her house bearing the worst of Salazar's assault would be only what Helga Hufflepuff would have expected. Only fitting, she would have found it, that Slytherin's first strike, his heir's first betrayal, expelled a Hufflepuff halfbreed from the school. He might have been comforted that it would make her proud that he remained after all. Hufflepuffs' influence lingered.

And she certainly would have found it fitting that a Hufflepuff should try to love Slytherin's monster into complacency, although she would have known from experience that it would fail. That a Gryffindor saved him would only have amused her. The breadth and depth of her influence, it showed. Hufflepuffs lingered.

Harder to say is her opinion on what followed between Rubeus and his former House. For it was his own house which turned away from the Groundskeeper's new apprentice. One of the poor duffers of Hufflepuff had been duped by monster or true culprit – that much everyone knew. Only Hufflepuffs respected him enough to believe he could do it: uncover Slytherin's secret where Gryffindors and Ravenclaws had failed. Approaching with love to disarm the charms. They believed his guilt, a higher compliment in its way than the acquittal granted him generally.

But it is a fearful thing, when such tight ranks close with you on the outside. Rubeus Hagrid always knew that he was playing with and loving dangerous friends, ones which could destroy him forever if and when they finally chose to strike – but he had already endured the fiercest blow a friend could deliver. What pain could a blast-ended skrewt cause him compared to this?


	7. P refectly obvious

_P refectly obvious_

The Gryffindors seemed to take it for granted that everyone would understand what was really important and just set about making it happen – always far more loudly than they'd thought they could do it. Ravenclaws discussed endlessly the problem then quietly solved it on a personal level – wailing the entire time that everyone should be so wise. Slytherins didn't bother with problems – they had the idea that they would go away if they ignored them fiercely enough, or at least ignored their proponents right to live.

Hufflepuffs said things. The things everyone knew didn't need saying. And a leader of the Hufflepuffs was expected to take charge on this. The D.A. was more important than O.W.L.s, Ernie said in the Hog's Head, and every other House rolled its collective eyes. But it was worth saying. Because since when could we trust the obvious things to be things people didn't ignore?

Ernie MacMillan was loud and brash and brave and obvious, but in all the right places. And he did wonder: in the heat of the moment when O.W.L.s were approaching, if even members of other Houses didn't have to remind themselves of the simple truth he had set forward like a pearl of wisdom that day in the Hog's Head – perspective was never a problem for Hufflepuffs the way it was for other Houses. And it would be only fitting if what kept them on track was, at least a little bit, the reminder that even that old duffer Hufflepuff prefect knew that the D.A. was more important than whatever rubbish they were concentrating on now.


	8. U nderstated

_U nderstated _

Herbology was an understated discipline, like Hufflepuff was an understate house. Somehow it was more acceptable to specialize in, say, Charms than Herbology. It was a soft brand of magic – yes, tell that to any tentacula in the greenhouses. And who did all the other professors have to go to for ingredients? But Professor Sprout didn't mind, when people didn't give Neville Longbottom credit for his skill in Herbology the way they did Harry Potter his skill in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Or the way her students were undervalued as a whole, how her house had so little glory. Because glory wasn't the point at all. Not with Herbology and not with Hufflepuff. There were more practical concerns. What did a plant care anyway, how good you were? Each bulb extraction was a moment to moment battle – you couldn't build on your earlier successes. And other houses would do well to remember that, Slytherin in particular. Gryffindors certainly went tearing off that way, but Ravenclaws could not be convinced of that concept at all. Just because Gryffindor had the best side Hogwarts had seen for many a year didn't mean that if Cedric Diggory could just get that Snitch…

And because the victories never built on each other, they never built up into a thoroughly impressive finale, they never earned you the right to sit back and relax in the greenhouse, you could never be happy they were mastered and move on to the next challenge. But though each victory stood alone – friend defended, mandrake raised, Snitch captured – Sprout wondered that no one ever realized: Hufflepuffs and Herbologists had far and away the _most _victories.


	9. F air play

__**A/N:** It's not much of a Christmas entry, but in case you need something to cut the sweetness of the holidays. Have merry ones, by the way.

* * *

><p><em>F air play<em>

If one more person told Zacharias Smith that Hufflepuffs were supposed to be the nice ones he was going to hex them.

Because that's why the Hufflepuffs always got the short end of the stick. Everyone expected them to take it. To lack the wit or the will to demand what belonged to them by right. Their turn at glory, their fair shot at the prize. Their moment in the sun.

Their shot at the gorgeous redhead everyone knew was meant for precious Potter in the end. Their right not to be patronized in the D.A. Their turn to win the Quidditch Cup with the best team of the year – the House Cup for that matter, with all the patient cultivating of house points over the long year. Their Champion to take the Triwizard Trophy for the glory of the school.

And yet everyone was so shocked that he was bitter. Because he was supposed to be a kind and loyal Hufflepuff who didn't care about glory. A chump.

The kind of person who was too nice to care about things like foul play. Too warm and fuzzy to take what he deserved.

But Merlin, it was exhilarating to see the looks of shock on their faces when he let them have it.


	10. F or that the best place is

_F or that, the best place is…_

In the wake of the Battle of Hogwarts, there was an unexpected surge in the number of students Sorted into Hufflepuff. It lasted nearly a generation. Most people did not quite understand why.

* * *

><p><em>Such pain<em>, whispered the voice in his ear. _Something I see more and more often in such young minds these days. But the loss has affected you more than most – so young, to be so broken. With the death of your mother and neglect of your father, your sister was all that you had._

_How well I remember her, remarkable child that she was...Not a thought in her head that wasn't optimistic and cheerful. But she had one very serious concern, as I remember all too well..._

"Don't talk about her."

_It was you, dear boy. Her very much beloved younger brother._

"I said don't talk about her."

_You'll have to learn to talk about her, young one. She is a part of you. Oh yes, she has affected you more than any other person ever will. And not just by her death, mostly by her life. She will always be a part of you._

"Leave her out of this. Just sort me into a damn house and shut bloody well up."

_You resent this place, this Castle, this world, for taking her. You would not come here if you had any other choice._

"Does any of this have a point you pompous, overgrown - "

_She loved it, this world, as she loved everything and everyone. But you most of all._

"I said leave my stupid sister the hell out of this."

_Poor boy, so hurt, so changed. She would barely know you now. I hope that Hogwarts teaches you more than spells. For that the best place is_ "HUFFLEPUFF!"


End file.
